Faith Amour (Singer, Composer)

I was photographing an event at Toronto City Church one evening when Faith came up to the stage and introduced herself as a jazz singer. From the moment she started singing, my camera was laser focused on her- I knew I was witnessing something and someone special.

Eventually we connected over social channels and Faith has since become a good friend and art mentor of mine. In the numerous shoots we’ve worked on together, the one thing that I always tried to capture was her confidence. She performs with such allure and talent yet never shows any timidity or nervousness. Her passion for her musical craft is so apparent it draws in crowds no matter the setting. The ability to foster an atmosphere that allows participants to slip into another reality for a moment, perhaps into a memory or a fantasy, is something reserved exclusively to masterful artists, of which Faith Amour can most definitely be identified with. I recognize that most of my portraits of Faith are filled with drama; I look forward to having her back in the studio to focus on the incredibly fun and loving sides of the human being she is. I’m incredibly honoured and humbled to be a part of Faith’s life and artistic journey. If you haven’t listened to her music yet, today is the day!

Lara Weeks (Model)

I first bumped into Lara when she came to support a model friend of hers (Sasha) at one of my shoots. From there we connected and her eagerness to both be in front of the camera and create something artful was catalyst enough to create some powerful images that were featured in various publications and exhibitions. As a model, she’s incredibly easy going and simply makes art fun, as it should be. As a person, she stood out as an example of what strength and hard work looks like.

When Lara was going through relational hardship, she came to the shoot. When she had a few days break from flight attending, she came to the shoot. When I’d come up with a crazy photoshoot idea (Hunter Vs Hunted), she showed up. Last time we spoke she was pursuing studies in and starting to work as an air traffic controller.

The last shoot we worked on from the date of this writing was for a swimwear company promo (Muna Swimwear). After we’d wrapped up, Lara asked if we could possibly take a couple photos with some dried rose petal remnants she found on the studio floor. Those last few minutes spent playing around with rose petals were where the real magic happened and it stands as my reminder as to how simple art, and photography, should be.

Roy Urbanozo (Actor)

I‘ve worked with Roy when we toured Canada for a couple seasons of VIEW’s dance competition. While our roles never directly crossed paths, we spoke numerous times during our meal breaks and in passing throughout the comp. I’ve observed Roy to be a passionate, do-it-all kind of guy in the back end of production. He dealt with multi-media production and was bouncing around from graphics to the soundboard/music to helping other staff out backstage. Roy was never the loud, outspoken type, which is maybe why I perceived him to be more reserved, yet he always joined in on conversations as they occurred.

It wasn’t until he reached out for headshots that we had the opportunity to speak in depth about life and career. While in the studio for his portrait session, I learned that a great passion of his was background acting, something I knew little about. We spoke about unions, securing roles and what it’s like to go from role to role. We took the standard acting headshots he needed and then transitioned into portraiture of “Roy, the background performer.” The task was showing his reservedness, contemplation, advocacy for background performing and his competency in his multiple back end roles. Knowing how often he has to set things up and wait around both as a technician and an actor, I decided to show him in waiting while maintaining his determination and approachability. 

Keisha Bell-Kovacs (Composer)

“I like weird,” she says to me as I stand with arms crossed looking down at her keyboard. We had already shot Keisha playing the keyboard and walking around her keyboard but we needed a fresh, non-cliche take to these music-themed portraits. Dealing with a composer, I felt the need to play with the composition as much as a musician might play around with a melody.

“What if I get down on the floor, UNDER it?” she asked. That was our ticket, our new perspective. Placing her on the ground, and later her keyboard, would bring a sense of child-like wonder and play (and perhaps a more abstract aesthetic), something that I really sensed from Keisha the short amount of time I’d known her. We took some formal standing poses for the sake of it but the real winners were always the ones that involved play.